Audio-recording of panel discussion following BBC preview now available

07 Nov 2014

The audio recording is now available for a recent Bristol 2014 panel discussion held in partnership with Bristol Festival of Ideas and BBC Bristol.

More poets and writers took part in the Battle of the Somme than any other battle in history, among them Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones, and JRR Tolkien. The new BBC film War Of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme looks at how these men served in the same trenches, fought in the same attacks and produced poetry and prose that has shaped the way people remember the Great War. Their poems, memoirs and fiction don’t just relate what happened; they take readers into the moment, evoking what it felt like to be there.

In a special evening, a preview of the film was followed by a panel discussion. Panellists included: military historian Jeremy Banning, author Richard Van Emden, director/ producer Sebastian Barfield, presenter/producer Peter Barton and Jean Moorcroft Wilson, author of a biography of Sassoon.

Comment

As the days become shorter the Autumn Festival of Ideas is something to look forward to, and gives me a reason to head out even when the evenings are cold and wet.

Fascinating and very moving.

Both my boyfriend and I took so much from the event and we both found it extremely informative. Both of us are 22 years old.

I really enjoyed this event and would like to thank those who organised and contributed to making this happen.

Event provided a historical context to war poetry - valuable contribution to aid understanding and interpretation of poetry/ literature and history. Mix of documentary style, history and animation very successful and engaging. Accessible to broad range of ages, contemporary and good interpretation.

It was fascinating, and I really liked the combination of film showing and discussion.

Very informative film, very good narration, we discovered things that we would never found out! The animation in the film was very good ,and depicted exactly what the guys on the front lines had to endure. Still can't get into my head the number of personal that lost their lives in a matter of months and over approx 6miles!! The overall experience was excellent was glad we attended. Thanks

Fantastic film very thought provoking- excellent panel - discussion could possibly of been opened up to audience earlier. What a great city Bristol is to be able to attend such events free. Many thanks

A fine event, and great to see it on a large screen.

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